Some of My Many ObsessionsOne hobby has never been enough for me

Medieval Reenactment

Last month I joined scores of other medieval re-enactors at the Oak Grove War Memorial Walking Trail, site of this year's The Days of Knights event. The mile-long trail weaves in and around a wooded park that serves as a frisbee golf course. The encampment was laid out chronologically along the trail like a visual timeline of European history from the Vikings to the early Renaissance.

The Days of Knights was my first opportunity to meet a number of well-known personalities from Facebook and YouTube. Among them were Ian LaSpina of Knyght Errant, Tom Biliter of Historically Patterned Mail, and Reece Nelson, the host of Pursuing the Knightly Arts YouTube channel. I even had a chance to exchange a few friendly blows with Reece and Tom.

Between bouts, Reece offered me a chance at Internet infamy. All I had to do was stand in front of his camera and answer a few questions. Anyone who has seen it knows that my performance was certainly not very polished. After reading a number of the comments discussing everything from my armour’s original sources to the construction material, I thought I should provide some details for those who are interested:

Several months ago I made a fairly important resolution for 2017. This was not one of those half-hearted pledges to give up some enjoyably bad habit most people make on New Year’s Day only to succumb to temptation a few hours later. To be fair, like more than a few other resolutions I have previously made, there was not exactly a considerable amount of critical thinking involved. Nevertheless, it would require a major personal commitment to accomplish: I was going to the Days of Knights this year.

For those who are unfamiliar with the event, the Days of Knights is billed as “a public educational event that strives to bring you a historically accurate re-creation of several time periods from the era known as the Middle Ages.” It is also one of the largest medieval living history events in the States, uniting re-enactors from the Viking Era to the early Renaissance. The thing that sets it apart from practically every medieval festival or faire is that all participants are required to meet very specific standards of historical accuracy.

I had first heard about the Days of Knights a couple of years ago through the social media pages of a couple of its organizers, Ian LaSpina of Knyght Errant and Tom Biliter of Historically Patterned Mail. Unfortunately, the event had always been held within a week or two and on the opposite side of the country of another must-see annual event: the Tournament of the Phoenix. With the Phoenix currently on an indefinite hiatus, I decided 2017 was the year. There was only one small obstacle standing in my way. I did not actually own any medieval camping equipment.